Badara Protectorate
The Badara Protectorate (Dundorfe: Badarenprotektorat; Majatran: بادارا محمية) was the Dundorfian-backed puppet government of the Sultan of Al'Badara from the 1880s to 1928. History The Protectorate had its roots in the Badaran reform movements of the late 1870s. Attempts at westernization by Sultan Ali Reza ibn al-Rassad had both offended high-ranking and influential tribal sheikhs while simultaneously leaving the nation wallowing in massive debt. Millions worth of outstanding debts threatened the very independence of the nation as foreign companies and nations tried to force the collections of these funds. The Sultan had successfully fought off such foreign acquisition through harried negotiations throughout the 1870s but his efforts were only putting off the inevitable. While these large debts threatened to destroy the economy, infrastructure and unity of Al'Badara a nationalist movement began founded and led by a corps of young military officers. These officers gained the support of the tribal sheikhs and began to lead large demonstrations in support of representative government and the ending of foreign intervention in the country. Dundorfian Intervention As the Sultan faced domestic upheavel foreign bankers consolidated the Al'Badaran debt and forced the Sultan to deal with a series of Financial Controllers who essential controlled the financial dealings, including the national budget, of Al'Badara. Despite this foreign control the Sultan and his government soon defaulted on almost all payments owing millions more in interest on top of their already excalating foreign debts. One of these controllers, Dundorfian Finance Minister Ludwig Grösner, bought up millions of Dunmarks worth of bonds owed by the Sultan. The Sultan's Request for Aid The reform movement in Al'Badara grew wider after the imposement of the Financial Controllers by the foreign banks. After a large national strike in August of 1880 and a more disasterous riot in Dar al Badar, in which 57 soldiers and over 400 rioters were killed, the movement become more and more oppositional to the government. The Sultan feared that the people would rise, the army would desert him and his government would collapse. Wedged between unpayable foreign debt and untenable domestic reform the Sultan turned toward what he perceived as the lesser of two evils. In October of 1881 the Sultan asked for foreign help in quashing the domestic reform movement. The Financial Controllers turned to the Dundorfian government who, by owning Al'Badara's debt and its budget, in essence controlled the nation. The Sultan's Deal The Sultan and the Dundorf Reich worked out a deal where Dundorf promised to cancel a quarter of Al'Badara's debts if the Sultan accepted Dundorfian help as well as giving Dundorfian companies exclusive monopoly over lands, resources, and trade. The Badaran Protectorate was born. Protectorate Government The Sultan ruled as a puppet under the advisement from Dundorfian military and colonial advisors of the Dundorfian Government-appointed Kolonialer Beratender Rat (Colonial Advisory Council), or KBR. ''Kolonialer Beratender Rat'' The KBR oversaw the Sultan's cabinet and legislative appointments, including the Grand Vizier (Majatran: وزير), practiced a virtual veto power over all budgetary and eventually nearly all regular legislation. The KBR swelled from, in 1882, a small group of advisors, to, by 1890 a vast bureaucracy with thousands of civil servants, hundreds of offices and its own series of businesses and money-making enterprises. Gradually, the KBR stepped down as the Sultan's civil service organized itself along professional lines. By the 1913, the KBR had shrunk to its originial size and within several years had ceased to exist as a functional service. The Sultan's (Puppet) Government While the KBR effectively ruled behind the scenes, the Sultan and his Diwan (Imperial council) played the face of Al'Badara as it had previously. While the "puppetry" fooled only the most naive and simple-minded reaya (رعايا), or lower class subject, it fooled no traditionalist sheikhs or nationalist army officers. The Diwan oversaw the sheikhs and nobles who controlled the local adminstration, or Kaza (قضاء‎), of the Sultan's government. It was the purpose of the KBR and the Diwan to ensure that laws and directions were carefully carried out. Often times, this included political or personal coercion. Martial law and the arrest of high-ranking sheikhs were common tactics in keeping kazas in line with the KBR and Sultan's decisions. In order to protect the new government, keep local administrations in line, and train a new army and national police force, the KBR brought in small garrison force from Dundorf termed the Badarakorps, or simply Korps. ''Badarakorps Dundorf quickly sent a garrison, the Badarakorps (Badara Corps), to aid the Sultan and quell any rebellion by either traditional or nationalist forces within Al'Badara. The garrison's secondary purpose was to train and modernize the Sultan's army, including a professional national police force. Eventually, the Dundorfian contingent of the Korps grew from an intial Sperrverband (Blocking Force) of 2,000 in 1882 to eight such units equivalent to 80,000 men by 1920. The native Al'Badaran contingent would grow to number nearly 250,000 and comprise over 200 separate Sperrverbandes at its height. ''Badara Polizeitruppe'' The Badarapolizeitruppe (Badara Constabulary), or BPT, was created as a national police force to ensure the KBR and Diwan's laws were being followed by local sheikhs and to root out any form of dissent in the individual Kazas. Their command, and training by the Dundorfian military and their creation as a national police rather than a local or Kaza force guaranteed the maintenance of order throughout Al'Badara. The BPT proved a suitable ground to enact Dundorfian-backed "affirmative action" (modern historians would say "divide and conquer") of ethnic and religious minorities. A disproportionate number of policemen were aboriginal ethnic Asli or Majatran Hosianists. This proved an effective way to gaurantee loyalty as these groups were more than willing to establish themselves on top of their majority ethnic Majatran or Islamic neighbors. The BPT remained loyal to the KBR/Dundorfian military and to a lesser extent the Sultan until almost the bitter end of the Protectorate in 1928. After the fall of the Protectorate, former BPT policemen and ex-PVK soldiers would make up the largest proportion of Al'Badaran immigrants to Dundorf. However, due to strict immigration laws, many of these men and their families would be denied entry to Dundorf and would subsequently face persecution and intimidation at the hands of their fellow Al'Badarans. Economic Interdependence Along with the Dundorfian governmental and military elements came Dundorfian economic interests. Corporations, joint-stock companies, and individual merchants flocked to new opportunities that had opened up after the Sultan accepted Dundorfian control. The initial rush to Al'Badara was deceiving given that the Dundorfian government was unwilling to let capitalism loose to ravage the Protectorate. Instead, the government wished to play a strong hand in the modernization and profitability of a new economy, especially given the billions of Dunmarks it has spent to gain the favorable trade agreements. Instead of a free enterprise system, Dundorf opted to create a mercantilist style system by rewarding contracts to a few large existing corporations to create monopolies over certain industries or sectors of the Al'Badara economy. It also contracted to build and control its own large corporation in order to bring profits directly to the Dundorfian government. ''Müller-Hambrecht Handelfirma'' In September 1884 the the Müller-Hambrecht Handelfirma (Müller-Hambrecht Trading Company) was created as a joint-stock corporation given a government-chartered monolopy over the oil and rubber industries in Al'Badara. The intent of the Trading Company, more commonly referred as Die Firma (The Company), was to produce enough petroleum gasoline and rubber to supply and maintain the fledgling rubber tire and very early automobile industries. The Firma was government sponsored and contracted but it only owned 20% of the stock. The dividends from this governmented-owned stock was used to pay for the military presence in the Protectorate. The rest was sold, often at extremely low prices, to larger companies or rich individuals from Dundorf and other trusted nations. It was run by Gerichtshof der Direktoren (Court of Directors) which was headquartered in the Badaran capital. Subsequently, the Firma gained considerable influence over the Sultan's government and, by its dissolution in 1910, more than half of the Directors were also members of the KBR. Dissolution The Firma was a major player in the creation of the oil fields in Al'Badara, especially in the discovery and exploitation of the offshore oil fields. These oilfields provided a large proportion of the profits of the Firma but much of it was reinvested in the creation of 30 large plantations for teh growing of grapes, olives, tobacco but especially, rubber. These plantations, created by and utilizing the newest ideas of science, proved to be an ill-sought venture. Through weak and contradicting management, grave misunderstandings of farming, and poor harvests the cost-benefit ratio of these large plantations grew smaller and smaller until it proved wholely unprofitable. Eventually, after enormous and costly infighting, the Firma was voted out of existence by the stockholders in March of 1910. The plantations were taken over by local Badaran businesses and officials and the oilfields were forceably sold to the Sultan's new state-owned oil concern at an unbelievably low 50 million DUM. Benefits Dundorf gained only minimal benefits from its economic move into Al'Badara. The Badarans and their government, however, gained tremendously. Costs The End of the Protectorate Rebellion Decline The First Dundorfian Civil War & Self-Government The End Restoration of the Absolute Monarchy In 1902, a series of local rebellions began following the passage of several laws that were perceived to threaten Islam by the Dundorfian-backed Sultan. These series of small rebellions persisted almost unabated for nearly 22 years. Dundorf was eventually reevaulated its imperial goals, especially its "hands-on" role, and Al'Badara became a Dundorf "dominion" with a large amount of autonomy. During the First Dundorfian Civil War in the 1920s, the Al'Badaran Sultan assumed even more direct control over the country. In 1928, massive protests of the broke out across Al'Badara with the new Sultan as its rallying point. The last Dundorfian soldiers left for their homeland shortly thereafter. Their exit would see a restoration of the absolute monarchy under the Sultan as seen in previous times. Category:Majatra Category:Former countries Category:Badara